Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

Sorry for the lack of blog posts lately! I adore the holidays, but they are a terribly busy time. So busy, in fact, that you might desperately need this recipe for chocolate peanut butter pie. You can whip it up in about an hour for that family gathering you forgot about, or you can make it a few days ahead and keep it in the fridge for Christmas dinner.

In addition to being quick and easy, chocolate peanut butter pie might be my very favorite dessert. The rich chocolate is the perfect foil for the light and fluffy peanut butter topping. I might call it Reese’s Cup Pie, but that just doesn’t convey the complexity of flavor and texture that this gorgeous pie has. You are welcome to top chocolate peanut butter pie with a layer of whipped cream, or even with more chocolate, but trust me: it doesn’t need it.

A few notes about making this pie: the recipe below calls for Cool Whip for a reason. This pie requires the kind of stabilized fluff that is much harder to find with homemade whipped cream, and impossible with the canned kind. You will be happier and your pie will be less melty if you use Cool Whip.

Make ganache by boiling the cream in a saucepan until it begins to rise, and then stirring in the chocolate until smooth and well-blended. Pour the ganache into the pie shell until it is about half an inch thick (or thicker, if desired), and then place in the fridge to set.

Mix together the vanilla pudding, Cool Whip, peanut butter, vanilla, and half of the chopped peanut butter cups. Spread until smooth over the set ganache in the pie shell. Garnish with the rest of the chopped peanut butter cups. Keep the pie refrigerated until you’re ready to serve. Enjoy!